Because I Love You

Magnus' Dream

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" A young girl shouted, jumping on the bed, desperate to wake at least one of them up. "Daddy! Daddy! Wake up!" Opening his eyes slowly, Magnus saw her. His daughter. Sitting up, Magnus pulled her into his arms. Tickling her stomach lightly caused her to shriek with laughter.

"Is my little girl ticklish? I think she is." Magnus said with a smile on his face. The girl grabbed at his hand.

"Daddy! Stop!" She shouted and he did. Cuddling into his chest, the young girl looked at Alec and smiled. "Daddy tired."

"Yeah he is sweetie. He's very tired." Magnus said, running his fingers through Alec's hair lightly. Alec had been out late the night before after a demon had been sighted not far from Magnus' house. It had taken him hours to locate and kill it and it had exhausted him. It had been a hard fight and he'd been hurt, but he'd fixed himself up with an Iratze before he'd gone home. The girl started reaching for Alec, wanting to be near him. Magnus laid her beside Alec, and then laid back down. The girl looked up at Alec, and then saw one of his runes showing out of the top of his shirt. She started tracing it lightly with her finger but before she was halfway done, Alec stirred.

"Sowwy daddy..." She said with tears in her eyes.

"Oh Ally, baby don't cry. It's okay." Alec said, holding her close. It had been Magnus' idea to call her Ally and Alec had immediately fallen in love with the name. Ally was a Shadowhunter but her parents had given her up because they were nearly always away from home. They didn't have the time for a baby. Ally was two days old when Alec and Magnus took her in. Magnus could still remember the look of pure happiness on Alec's face when they brought her home. She was almost three now and he was shocked at how fast she'd grown.

"Daddy? Why you gots black on your body?" Ally asked, she sounded so innocent.

"They're daddy's runes baby. They keep daddy protected from bad people."

"Bad people hurt daddy?" Ally was close to tears. She couldn't understand why anyone would want to hurt her dad.

"Oh Ally... It's okay."

"Daddy gets hurt!" Ally cried, burying her head into Alec's chest. Alec had no idea what to say to make her feel better.

"Baby girl, daddy gets hurt, so other people don't get hurt. Daddy makes the bad people go away so it's safe for you." Magnus said, knowing exactly what to say. Ally looked up, her beautiful blue eyes glistening with tears. Magnus delicately brushed her tears away. "Now, don't you cry sweetie. Daddy wants to see that pretty little smile of yours." Ally couldn't help but smile. She climbed over Alec and lay between them. Turning over, Alec put an arm over Ally and kissed her forehead. Ally giggled, she had the most adorable laugh that never failed to make both Alec and Magnus smile. Looking at the time, Magnus saw that it was five in the morning.

"Ally, why are you up so early? You're never up before eight" Ally shrugged. "Baby you know you can tell me anything." In her quietest voice, Ally said.

"I have a scary dream and then I wet the bed..." Magnus held her close.

"It's okay sweetheart. It happens. It happened to me when I was your age, and it happened to daddy when he was your age."

"Really?" Ally asked. Magnus smiled and kissed her cheek.

"Really. And, all it takes to make it better is this." Magnus snapped his fingers.

"Magnus, we agreed no magic for things like this." Alec complained into his pillow.

"Yes we did, but you're exhausted and I'm comforting Ally. So if you want to go and do it then go ahead, I'll undo it." Alec groaned.

"Fine. Just this once." Magnus pulled the covers up over the three of them.

"I stay in here?" Ally asked, Magnus could see that she was tired and was falling asleep in his arms.

"Of course you can princess. You can say in here whenever you want." Magnus said. Reaching over to his bedside table, he turned his alarm off knowing that Ally didn't like loud noises. Cuddling into his chest, Ally fell asleep. Magnus watched her sleep for a little while. Watching her chest rise and fall as she slept, the way her hands clenched and relaxed and the way she smiled when her head lay against his chest and she could hear his heartbeat. Magnus happily fell asleep knowing that his baby girl was comfortable, happy and protected. Three hours later, Magnus was awake. He didn't need his alarm clock to know it was time to wake up. Both Ally and Alec were still sound asleep. Ally had her signature iron grip on his shirt and he couldn't bear the thought of making her let go. Getting out of bed, he held Ally close to him, keeping her comfortable. Carrying her to the kitchen, he put together some food for Chairman Meow. Today it was a mix of fish and chicken. Whilst he tucked in to his meal, Magnus went and sat on the couch. He didn't turn the tv on as he knew it would wake Ally. He sat there in silence for more than an hour, gently playing with her hair, before she woke up.

"Daddy." Ally smiled and cuddled into his chest.

"Yeah baby, I'm your daddy." After almost three years, Magnus still couldn't get over the happiness he felt when she called him 'daddy'. "Why don't we go to the park today. Give daddy some quiet time because he's very very tired." Ally nodded.

"No wants to wake daddy." She said.

"No, we don't want to wake daddy."

Magnus stood up with her and sat her on his shoulders. He took her into the kitchen and fixed the two of them breakfast. He got Ally some of her favourite cereal, and he had two pieces of dry toast.

"Daddy? Can we make daddy some food? It make him happy." Ally asked after finishing her cereal. Magnus smiled.

"Of course we can. Let's see what we've got." After a few minutes of rooting through cupboards and the refrigerator, Ally and Magnus started making Alec breakfast. It consisted of an omelette, bacon, sausages and toast. Picking Ally up, Magnus sat her on the kitchen counter. Breaking three eggs into a cup, he gave them to Ally as well as a fork.

"Can you whisk those up for me sweetie?" Ally nodded and started whisking the eggs whilst Magnus put the bacon on and started cooking the sausages. When she was done, Ally handed the cup back to Magnus.

"Wow! You've done an amazing job at that baby girl!" Magnus exclaimed. Ally reached over and put her hand over his mouth.

"Shh, daddy sleeping." She said quietly and Magnus nodded. She moved her hand away and giggled. After the sausages were cooked and the bacon was sufficiently burnt, Magnus put some bread in the toaster and started cooking the omelette. It didn't take long for the omelette to be done and he put it on a plate. Whilst his back was turned, Ally tried to work out how to turn off the stove that he had left on by accident. All of a sudden, Magnus heard a pained scream and then Ally started to cry. Turning back quickly, he saw her crying her eyes out, the skin on her hand was burned.

"Oh my baby!" Magnus said, he picked her up carefully and turned the stove off. Taking her over to the sink, he turned on the cold water and gently held Ally's hand under the water to soothe her burns. As the pain started to fade, Ally gradually stopped crying. "Baby girl I'm so so sorry." Magnus repeated over and over again. Not once did she reply, she just watched the water run over her hand through sore eyes. Alec ran out of the bedroom, his hair a mess and his eyes tired.

"What happened? I heard Ally scream." He asked frantically, extremely worried. Ally reached for him and he took her from Magnus.

"We were making you breakfast." Magnus began. "I turned my back for a second and I'd left the stove on by accident..." Alec could guess the rest. Ally had her head buried into his chest and was crying, he saw the burns on her hand. Magnus had never looked so upset.

"Ally, baby it wasn't daddy's fault. It was an accident, accidents happen. Magnus, it's okay. Next time, you'll remember to turn the stove off. It couldn't be helped. These things happen." Alec put his hand on Magnus' cheek but he moved away. "Magnus..."

"It's my fault. All my fault and now she hates me." Magnus was close to tears.

"Magnus no. No, she doesn't hate you. You're her daddy, she can't hate you. She's upset, just like you are." Magnus nodded slightly.

"I need to be alone right now..." He said, then he grabbed a jacket and left without saying another word, making Ally cry even harder.